[1] Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a spring of tears, that I
might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! [2] Oh
that I had in the wilderness a lodging-place of wayfaring men; that I might
leave my people, and go from them! for they are all adulterers, an assembly
of treacherous men. [3] They bend their tongue, [as it were] their bow, for
falsehood; and they are grown strong in the land, but not for truth: for
they proceed from evil to evil, and they don`t know me, says Yahweh. [4]
Take you heed everyone of his neighbor, and don`t you trust in any brother;
for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go about
with slanders. [5] They will deceive everyone his neighbor, and will not
speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary
themselves to commit iniquity. [6] Your habitation is in the midst of
deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, says Yahweh. [7] Therefore
thus says Yahweh of Hosts, Behold, I will melt them, and try them; for how
[else] should I do, because of the daughter of my people? [8] Their tongue
is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit: one speaks peaceably to his neighbor
with his mouth, but in his heart he lays wait for him. [9] Shall I not
visit them for these things? says Yahweh; shall not my soul be avenged on
such a nation as this? [10] For the mountains will I take up a weeping and
wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a lamentation, because they
are burned up, so that none passes through; neither can men hear the voice
of the cattle; both the birds of the sky and the animals are fled, they are
gone. [11] I will make Jerusalem heaps, a dwelling-place of jackals; and I
will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant. [12] Who is
the wise man, that may understand this? and [who is] he to whom the mouth
of Yahweh has spoken, that he may declare it? why is the land perished and
burned up like a wilderness, so that none passes through? [13] Yahweh says,
Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not
obeyed my voice, neither walked therein, [14] but have walked after the
stubbornness of their own heart, and after the Baals, which their fathers
taught them; [15] therefore thus says Yahweh of Hosts, the God of Israel,
Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them
water of gall to drink. [16] I will scatter them also among the nations,
whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword
after them, until I have consumed them. [17] Thus says Yahweh of Hosts,
Consider you, and call for the mourning women, that they may come; and send
for the skillful women, that they may come: [18] and let them make haste,
and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may run down with tears, and
our eyelids gush out with waters. [19] For a voice of wailing is heard out
of Zion, How are we ruined! we are greatly confounded, because we have
forsaken the land, because they have cast down our dwellings. [20] Yet hear
the word of Yahweh, you women, and let your ear receive the word of his
mouth; and teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor
lamentation. [21] For death is come up into our windows, it is entered into
our palaces; to cut off the children from outside, [and] the young men from
the streets. [22] Speak, Thus says Yahweh, The dead bodies of men shall
fall as dung on the open field, and as the handful after the harvester; and
none shall gather [them]. [23] Thus says Yahweh, Don`t let the wise man
glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, don`t
let the rich man glory in his riches; [24] but let him who glories glory in
this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who
exercises lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in
these things I delight, says Yahweh. [25] Behold, the days come, says
Yahweh, that I will punish all those who are circumcised in [their]
uncircumcision: [26] Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon,
and Moab, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut off, who dwell
in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house
of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.
